It's being widely reported across the internet that Zenimax will be announcing their work on an Elder Scrolls MMO next month.

First of all if you weren't expecting an MMO announcement, where have you been the past four years? Most had expected a Fallout MMO, but some of us had our heads to the ground and heard the whispers about an Elder Scrolls MMO yonks ago!

Now I know your initial reaction to the news will more than likely be "awww pish!", but I just wanted to make one thing clear.

This MMO has been in the works for over 4 years now. Zenimax, the owners of Bethesda, setup a new department called Zenimax Online to act as their MMO specialists and this department is separate from Bethesda Studios. So the important thing to take from all this is; an Elder Scrolls MMO being in the works hasn't, and won't, detract from the games Bethesda release. Skyrim is proof of that. So if you're worried an Elder Scrolls MMO means that Fallout 4 or the Elder Scrolls VI will be delayed or cancelled, don't worry. Of course I'm not speaking with authority on this, but that makes logical sense.

Personally I think an Elder Scrolls MMO is a nice little side game that I can play while waiting for the next single player Elder Scrolls and Fallout games to come out. It can serve as a distraction, in a world filled with lore I already partially understand. And I think if Zenimax Online are clever, they'll have designed the game to be as good single-player as it is multi-player so it can catch all you folks who are sworn off MMOs to part with a fee each month.

I'm interested, will post any updates I find, but the official announcement is still 6-8 weeks away.

Long rumored and much anticipated, The Elder Scrolls Online is finally being unveiled in the June issue of Game Informer. In this month's cover story we journey across the entire land of Tamriel, from Elsweyr to Skyrim and everywhere in between.

Developed by the team at Zenimax Online Studios, The Elder Scrolls Online merges the unmatched exploration of rich worlds that the franchise is known for with the scale and social aspects of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Players will discover an entirely new chapter of Elder Scrolls history in this ambitious world, set a millennium before the events of Skyrim as the daedric prince Molag Bal tries to pull all of Tamriel into his demonic realm.

"It will be extremely rewarding finally to unveil what we have been developing the last several years," said game director and MMO veteran Matt Firor, whose previous work includes Mythic's well-received Dark Age of Camelot. "The entire team is committed to creating the best MMO ever made – and one that is worthy of The Elder Scrolls franchise."

An in-depth look at everything from solo questing to public dungeons awaits in our enormous June cover story – as well as a peek at the player-driven PvP conflict that pits the three player factions against each other in open-world warfare over the province of Cyrodiil and the Emperor's throne itself.

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The Elder Scrolls Online is scheduled to come out in 2013 for both PC and Macintosh

Massively multiplayer take on open-world RPG series to be set 1,000 years before Skyrim in a Tamriel endangered by daedric prince Molag Bal.

Skyrim fans yearning to explore the game's fantasy world with other people will get the chance next year, as Bethesda Softworks today announced The Elder Scrolls Online, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game take on the long-running series, set for release in 2013.

The Elder Scrolls is finally going online.Bethesda didn't reveal any gameplay details, but a Game Informer tease for the magazine's cover story on Elder Scrolls Online revealed that the game will cover the entire continent of Tamriel, including the lands featured in previous Elder Scrolls games like Cyrodiil, Skyrim, and Morrowind. The game will be set 1,000 years before the events of last year's hit Skyrim and will put players into the world on the brink of demonic assimilation at the hands of the daedric prince Molag Bal.

Elder Scrolls Online will also feature three player factions, though they were not detailed. However, a rumor that made the rounds in March and correctly predicted the game's announcement suggested that they will be represented by animals: a lion, a dragon, and an unspecified bird of prey.

The Elder Scrolls Online will be the debut game from Zenimax Online Studios, which was established five years ago with Mythic Entertainment cofounder Matt Firor (Dark Age of Camelot) heading up the operation. Firor is also serving as game director on the project.

SEAL7 wrote:next question will be if its going to be F2P or subscription based?

If history is any indication it will be subsciption to start with atleast. Big titles almost always are.

I'm a bit disapointed in the graphical style of the game, it looks far more like the overly fantastical like RIFT and WOW rather than the somewhat more old fashioned and realisitc we are used to seeing in elder scrolls games. Seems like they are leaning towards the more Asian style of fantasy that has been popular in MMO's lately rather than the European style that has been the mainstay of the series in the past.

I have been watching this very closely and currently plan to play when it goes live if I can. They appear to be listening to the clamor as after the first info. out appear to have switched directions. Some minor concerns which have been voiced at MMORPG.com, but overall, it looks TES and sounds like a good overall plan and direction for both PVE and PVP. Actually, for folks who enjoy what appears to be open world, well, the PVP area, Cyrodiil, anyway factional PVP, it could be very, very fun. Thanks for the extra links a4!

I've been in the beta previously, wouldn't call it that great. The gameplay is smooth and I like the skill system, the games unique in many aspects.

But it's just not an mmo, it felt like a single player game with spectators. Only you get really into the story and fight through a dungeon only to find the last room with the boss is set into instanced groups, so 5-10 random people are in there instead of hundreds, while a nice idea from a tech standpoint from a gaming view you miss portion of the boss dialogue which is just moronic for a game so heavy in lore.Myself and friends tried to do a few hard quests together but ended up in instanced dungeons and couldn't find a way to join the same one. That could have been a beta issue though.

That should have just been a beta issue Pantho from my understanding especially if grouped.

Grats a4! This will be my third or fourth test weekend and am looking forward to it since I did not get to do much last time. While still on the fence on how good it is, I think it is better than most and did preorder it. Decorva got hers with a 25% off from GMG, and I used GameStop rewards cards to get mine. I went Imperial Retail and she Imperial Digital (obviously if getting it from GMG).